The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-01-24

'tancy II tniS was your own lJUle
Kitty"
The thought rushed over me as /
followed her to the door, and my
heart began TO beat furiously.
As opened the door u cold wind
blew in that chilled me to the core,
and the child looked pitifully up to
me again. / couldn't stand it. l took
her by the shoulder and led her back
to the fire, and, although / did not
know it, the tears were rolling down
my cheeks. /. who hadn't wept since
| laid my darlings together in their
last cold bed.
The child stayed that night, and
was quite ready the next morning to
90 out and beg; but the good angel
who stood at my side the night before
prompted me again.
"Do you think you could do any.
thing to pay for your keep" asked.
"Oh" and her hands came together,
"I'll clean up everything and do just
what you tell me. I'm 80 tired of be.
ing cold and hungry"
"Then stay" 1 said, my eyes SUI
bplClOuSly Iull dRdi1'
That day had something to think
OF besides gain. / shut up my Office
earlier, pulled my hat over my eyes.
and went across the city to the shop
OF German Jew, and there I bought
what thought the child needed, ready
made. 1t cost q good many twinges
the soul OF the miser was almost
rent in twain.
BY the time I reached my own door
/ had called myself q fool at least
twenty times, and fully expected to
find the child gone with everything she
could lay her hands on. But no;
there was the fire blazing, the hearth
swept up, the floor washed, and the
room even with it's scant furniture, so
homelike and attractive that my
heart began to throb with human
pulses again. The girl had washed
and made herself as tidy as possible
with her scant opportunities, and
looked really beautiful in the glow OF
the evening fire.
That night she sat beside me, dress
ed in the warm and comfortable gar
ments, and l quite forgot to look over
my accounts. / could do nothing but
look at her.
One night I came home, and was
surprised at the appearance OF my
room. A handsome rug lay before
the fire, and four faded crimson chairs
and rocker brought back the old.
time sense OF comfort. A little table
decked with white cloth held the old.
fas hioned chinaware which my wife
had priced. At first | looked around,
almost expecting to see her. But no,
there stood Allie. as she called herself,
smiling and blushing, yet half afraid
at my hasty exclamation.
"You won't be angry with me, will
you? But all The things were upstairs,
and they looked so sad and lonesome,
Just as | used to feel, that l thought
I'd bring some OF them downstairs.
And, OH Hound this, but didn't dare
to play with it"
AS she spoke she brought from air
other part OF the room little, brok-
en-, faded.faced doll.
That was too much for me; my lit
tie child with it's brown tresses and
blue eyes came to me in the person OF
the waif who had brought order and
symmetry and love into my desolate
home, and from that moment | said:
"She shall be mine, and | will never
part from her, but will be to her a
father indeed"
Then / awoke from the lethargy
that had bound my soul so long. l
became new man. Together we
sang and worked and prattled, like
two children. | ceased TO think that
she ever had been a stranger, and her
womnnly little ways were a
constant delight to me. BY degrees my
home frightened more and more. The
cobwebs disappeared from doors and
windows; in their stead same fresh.
new paint and house plants. All the
books were brought down from the
garrett, with their old racks, and nailed
to the wall where my wife herself had
planned for them to be placed. Every
night after my work came home to
a we'll ordered dinner, for the child
seemed to take naturally to all the
mysteries Of cooking, and after that
/ spent two happy hours in teaching
her with books and slate and pencil.
| was myself again. | had something
to live for, something to look forward
to. The flesh came again upon my
bones, my old friends recognized me,
and the world took on new beauty,
for saw it out of fresh young eyes,
and felt it throb in a grateful heart.
Now, in place OF the rusty lock, the
spent candle, and the greed fer count.
ing money in n den thick with dirt,
whose windows the glaring
sun itself looks dim-in place OF the
OF cold and nigpard meals,
I ait in NV nleasant. pas.lirht room,